A long time ago, before the occupation of the Island of Nope by the
white people, there dwelt, upon the north side, and near its western
end, a spirit or goblin--a very good-natured, peaceable, clever, old
fellow, very fond of laughter and a good joke. The Indians called him
_Moshup_, which signifies a very bad Spirit, but, when the white
people came, they named him with reference to the little elbow, or
promontory of land, where he had his usual residence, the Devil of
Cape Higgin. There is another tradition, in which, it is said, that he
once lived upon the main land, opposite Nope, and near the brook which
was ploughed out by the Great Trout[A]. It was said, that Moshup came
to Nope in search of some children, which had been carried away by a
great bird, and finding the spot pleasant, people clever, and food
abundant, concluded to take up his abode there[B].
[Footnote A: See the "Legend of Coatuit Brook," p. 307 of this vol.]
[Footnote B: See "The Legend of Moshup," v. ii, p. 261.]
Moshup, the Devil of Cape Higgin, was by no means so bad as his title
implies. Faults he had, it is true, but no one is without faults. And
then, compared with the vices of men, the vices of the devil sunk into
mere trifles. He was a little loose in his morals, and withal, rather
cross to his wife, but he made up for the latter fault by his
unwearied attentions to the wives of his neighbours. He gave into very
few indulgences, drank nothing stronger than water, and never ate more
than a small whale, or five or six porpoises, at one meal. His
greatest indulgence was in smoking the Indian weed, which he did to
excess. He was moderate in his exactions from the Indians, requiring,
as a tribute, only a tenth part of all the whales, grampusses, and
finbacks, which might be taken by the inhabitants of the Island,
together with all the porpoises caught in the Frog-Month. The evil of
scarcity, so it was not occasioned by indolence, he bore with much
composure. But, if a cheat were attempted to be practised upon him, by
sending him the poorest fish, or if any part of his share was
abstracted, if a porpoise or a halibut was hidden, or the head of a
finback sunk, with a buoy attached to it, or the fin of a whale buried
in the sand, he showed most terrific symptoms of wrath and anger, and
never failed to make the Indians pay dearly for their roguery. But
those who dwelt in his vicinity, indeed all liable to be called upon
for tithes, little disposed at any time to battle with spirits and
demons, paid their dues with great promptitude, and so seldom came in
collision with their grim and powerful neighbour. To tell my brother
the truth, it was not for their interest to quarrel with him. He was
of much importance to them in many of their pursuits, and assisted
them with a great deal of good advice and sound and profitable
counsel. He frequently directed them to a fine school of black-fish,
or bade them see whales, or man their canoes for the chase of the
finback; he told them when to plant and gather in their corn, and
foretold to them the approach of storms with an accuracy productive of
the greatest advantages to them. He also assisted the young people in
their courtships up to the time of joining hands, but this it was
whispered he did from a disposition very proper to a naughty being
like himself, who could not fail to find his account in multiplying
human miseries, and thereby increasing the chances of their going to
the dominions of Hobbamock, his master. Was any little rogue of a
maiden solicited to become the wife of a youth, and her parents stood
out to the time of more usquebagh, who but Moshup was called in to
negociate for a less quantity? If a father said, "It shall not be,"
and Moshup could be prevailed on to say, "It shall be," the father
was sure to find a pretext for changing his mind. If a young woman was
beloved by one, and she pouted and pretended indifference, three words
from Moshup were sure to make her reasonable. And, when women were
much given to scolding, he had, somehow, a singular knack at taming
them. Taking every circumstance into view, it will be readily
concluded that he was a favourite with the Indians; indeed some of our
fathers say, that he was once their grand Sachem; the greater part,
however, think he was the first governor of the whites, and this I
believe.
But spirits and demons, as well as the children of this world, whether
white or red, are subject to changes of opinion and conduct--to many
whims and phantasies. Moshup grew harsh and ill-natured as he grew
older. The change was first felt in his own family, the peace of which
was soon destroyed by continual strife and quarrelling. He would beat
his old woman for nothing, and his children for a great deal less. He
soon began to harass his subjects with new demands and querulous
exactions. He now frequently demanded the half of a whale instead of a
tenth, or took, without asking, the whole of a grampus or finback.
Instead of contributing his aid to promote marriages, he was very
diligent in preventing them; instead of healing love-quarrels, he did
his best to make them irreconcileable. He broke many well-ordered
matches, and soured much matrimonial bliss, set many friendly families
by the ears, and created frequent wars between the different tribes of
the Island. The wild ducks he frightened with terrific shouts, so that
the Indian archer could no longer come near them; he cut the springes
set for grouse and woodcocks--in short, he became a very troublesome
and dangerous spirit. There was, however, no use in fretting; he was
seated firmly on their necks, and there was no shaking him off. So the
Indians bore his freaks with great patience, calmly took up with the
offal of the whale, and only adopted the precaution of removing as far
from him as possible. His harsh behaviour unpeopled his neighbourhood;
and soon the little elbow of land, which the white people call Cape
Higgin, had, for its only occupants, the Spirit Moshup and his family.
Upon the southern shore of the same Island of Nope, at a distance of
ten or twelve miles from the residence of Moshup, lived, at the same
period of time, Hiwassee, the proud and arbitrary Sachem of that
portion of the Island which lies most exposed to the fogs of spring.
He was a very rich and mighty man, had abundance of grape-vines, and a
vast many ponds, well stocked with clams, oysters, perch, crabs, and
wild fowl; many swamps filled with terrapins and cranberries; and much
land, well adapted to the growing of maize and other good things. He
was accounted the most powerful Sachem on the Island. He was, besides,
on excellent terms with Moshup, and so escaped all taxes,
contributions, and tenths, merely now and then making him a present of
a few baskets of grapes, or a few terrapins. This Sachem had a
daughter, young, and more beautiful than any maiden that had ever been
seen in Nope. She was taller than Indian maidens generally are, her
hair was long and glossy as the raven's, and her step very light and
graceful. Then she excelled very far the women of her tribe in the
exercises which belong to the other sex. None drew the bow with equal
strength, or tortured the prisoner with so much ingenuity, or danced
the war-dance with equal agility, or piped the war-song with lungs as
efficient. I must tell my brother that, according to the tradition of
our nation, the Indian females were first taught by her to introduce
the crab's claw into the cartilage of the nose, and to insert the
shell of a clam into the under-lip, as ornaments. She was, indeed, a
beautiful creature, and understood better than any one else the art of
attracting all the brave and best of the land; the love and
admiration of the other sex followed her whithersoever she went. Her
father's wigwam was filled with the suitors who came to solicit her
love. There were the chiefs of the tribes which dwelt at Neshamoyes,
Chabbaquiddic, Popannessit, Suckatasset, and many other places;
warriors, famed and fearless, who asked her of the Grand Sachem in
marriage. But no, she was deaf to their entreaties, laughed at all
their presents of conch-shells, terrapins, and eagle's feathers, and
carefully and scrupulously barred the doors of her father's wigwam
against all the suitors, who, according to the Indian forms of
courtship, came when the lights were extinguished and the parents were
sleeping, to whisper soft tales at the side of her couch. The truth,
which must be told my brother, is, that she had long before placed her
affections upon a young warrior, stern to his enemies, but to her all
gentleness, who dwelt at the western end of the Island, and was
reckoned the favourite, some said he was the son, of the Devil of Cape
Higgin. They had loved each other long, and with the truest
affection(1), and all their hopes centered in a union.
But my brother knows--if he does not I will tell him--that fathers and
mothers will not always permit daughters to have their own way in
marriage. The proud father objected to the lover, because he had
slain but three foes, and was not descended from a line of chiefs,
distinguished by their wisdom or valour. What was to be done? The
lovers talked the matter over and over again, and finally determined
to apply to Moshup, for his aid and advice. They forthwith repaired to
the usual residence of the goblin. It was a most auspicious moment;
they found him in a delirium of joy. A school of whales, in a recent
dark night, becoming bewildered, had foundered upon a neighbouring
ledge of rocks, and a great many fine calves had been deposited at the
mouth of his cave as his share. Withal a brother goblin, residing
somewhere upon the main land, had sent him some excellent old tobacco;
and these, with the occurrence at the happy moment of other enlivening
circumstances, had wrought him up to such unusual good temper that he
quite forgot his very recent determination to annoy all lovers, and
promised to befriend the hapless pair. He rose from his seat, put a
few hundred pounds of tobacco in his pouch, took a half-roasted
grampus from the coals to pick by the way, and set off for
Sanchequintacket, the place of Hiwassee's residence: the young warrior
perched upon his shoulder, and the maiden, reposing on a litter formed
by his arm, lay horizontally on his breast.
Moshup was no devil with wings, but he had two legs, and could use
them to much advantage. So he set off at a pretty smart trot, and was
very soon at the end of his journey. He found the Grand Sachem busy at
a feast, but this did not prevent him from telling his errand at once.
With great calmness and in perfect silence, for he was not in one of
his talkative fits, he heard the maiden's father give his reasons for
refusing his daughter to the lover. They were those which have been a
thousand times urged before--"Poverty--poverty--low parentage--low
parentage; not sufficiently known--not sufficiently celebrated."
"Is this all you have to say against the young man, you old fool?"
asked Moshup. "What do you want? What must the young man have?"
"He must have a great deal of land--he must have an island," answered
Hiwassee.
"Good," said Moshup, drawing a huge quantity of smoke into his mouth,
and blowing it out through his nose: "follow me!"
At the time whereof I speak, the island of Nope extended to and
comprehended the little island of Tuckanuck. The little island was
then a part of the larger island; but once upon a time there came a
great storm, the winds raged and the thunders rolled, and the storms
beat upon the island, and it was disjointed and became two islands. To
a high cliff, upon the eastern side of this same Tuckanuck, Moshup
conducted Hiwassee, his daughter, her lover, and a great crowd of
other Indians, who followed to see what wonderful feat he would
perform. Being arrived, he sat down upon the ground, and commenced his
charm. First he dug a great hole in the earth, into which he threw
many heated stones, the while muttering many words, which no one but
himself understood. Then he filled his pipe with tobacco, kindling it
with the rays from a flash of lightning. When this was done, he bowed
once to the rising sun, twice to the North Star, blew thrice in a
conch-shell, muttered more unintelligible words, and commenced smoking
at a great rate. In a few minutes it was as dark as the darkest night,
and a terrible tempest arose. The thunders rolled awfully, the
lightnings flashed, the rains poured down, and abundance of voices
were heard in the east, puffing and blowing as of men in great labour.
Presently there was a hissing sound, like that of live embers dropped
into water--Moshup had emptied his pipe. There now came up a strong
wind from the west, which, gradually dispersing the smoke he had
created, displayed to their view a low dark something in the east. It
was the promised island--the ashes from Moshup's pipe. The couple upon
whom Moshup bestowed this island gave it the name of Nantucket, and
such it bears at this day.